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  Discussion on Keratoma of the frog/sole and heel
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New Member:
Stacie

Posted on Thursday, Jan 22, 2004 - 10:51 am:

This is my 1st posting. I have a 17 year old Leopard App. He is 17 hands. About 7 months ago, he started to form what looked like a tumor in between his heel bulbs. It grew rather quickly. The Vet looked at it in the early stages and within 2 months was called out again due to its size. It was round and about the size of a quarter. The Vet removed it, saying that it was probably just a fibrous tumor of some type and never sent it off to pathology to test. Did not believe it would come back. About 4 months later, his heel began to split and abscess - called the Vet and was told to soak in epson salt and warm water, within the week his frog began to what I can best describe is die and a tumor where the frog was began to grow. I stopped the soaking and called the Vet out again. He had never seen anything like it in the 30 years of being a Vet and recommended calling NC State Vet Hospital. The earliest appointment was 2 weeks later, the tumor had grown to cover the entire area of the frog missing by the time I got to State Vet. The Vet removed the tumor, which at this point grew almost the length of the frog and about 1/2 in deep and about 3/4 in wide, leaving only about 60% of the good frog still there. Sending it off to be tested and radiographs taken. He froze the area as well in hopes of getting it all. I am patiently waiting for the results, but in the meantime, we have been keeping the bandages on 24/7, changing daily, repacking with betadine/auqaphor ointment mixture and just had a hospital plate put on to help protect it. The removal was 1 1/2 weeks ago, a small area is already growing again. What in the world can I do??
Member:
Christos

Posted on Thursday, Jan 22, 2004 - 4:02 pm:

Stacie,
There's not much you can do before the biopsy results. The hospital will advise you according to findings.
The treatment of this may require several removal/chemical cauterization cycles until it diminishes, be mentally and financially prepared.
I wish you and your boy the fastest resolution.

Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Jan 23, 2004 - 8:46 am:

Hello Stacie,
You do need to monitor carefully for regrowth and if this occurs, immediately have it removed and refrozen. It is much easier to be sure you get it all when dealing with small lesions. Unless this turns out to be Hoof Canker (see » Equine Diseases » Skin Diseases » Canker of the Hoof) this is a unusual presentation and if you will let us know what the biopsy says perhaps we can provide some more information.
DrO
Member:
Christos

Posted on Friday, Jan 23, 2004 - 9:02 am:

Stacie, Doctor,
What exactly do you mean by freezing?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Jan 23, 2004 - 8:14 pm:

It is using either frozen carbon dioxide or liquid nitrogen to "kill" cancers. You apply it until the undesirable tissue is frozen. It thaws, dies, and sloughs off.
DrO
Member:
Christos

Posted on Saturday, Jan 24, 2004 - 2:55 am:

How well does freezing work, doctor?
I have only seen treating sarcoids with some ointment, I can not recall what the ingredients were, but it took a couple of months to get rid of the thing. And it was laborious, repeated removals of regrowth and difficult applications of this cream in order not to damage surrounding tissue.
Does freezing kill it faster? How do you avoid freezing adjacent tissue?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Jan 24, 2004 - 9:14 am:

The effectiveness depends on the particular type of neoplasia, its location, and the skill of the operator but for well defined sarcoids it is pretty effective. I believe our article on sarcoids compares this with other methods of treatment as it relates to the type of sarcoid you are dealing with.
DrO
Member:
Christos

Posted on Saturday, Jan 24, 2004 - 11:34 am:

Thanks, doctor, I hadn't seen the article.
Member:
Stacie

Posted on Monday, Feb 2, 2004 - 11:54 am:

Ok, sorry it has taken some time to get back to. We had 5 inches of snow and 3 of ice, so it put us out of touch for awhile. The Vet finally called back, advised that it was granular tissue (proud flesh). By the time they returned my call, it had grown back to the size of a quarter. I did not want to wait almost a week to bring him back in. I had my vet come out that next morning. He looked at it to start with and was amazed at how quickly it returned. He blocked his foot and gave him a very lite sedative, since we do not have a problem with him not giving us his foot to work on. He got the scapel ready to recut the granular tissue away, and when he shaved the surface of it, only the surface was graular, right below the surface was new flesh/good flesh growing back. I was so releaved. He packed it with what he called a scrathes medication, very high cortizone based cream, replaced the hospital plate and bandaged it up. We then did our usual duck tape cover over that. We removed it 3 days later and the swelling from the area had gone down, the new flesh was a little smaller. The sole looks like it is starting to grow back, although the frog has no new growth at all. His split heel still looks pretty open, no infection though. Will the split heel ever heal? Is there something special we can do to heal it better? Also, we have noticed that the hoof at the very edge of his heel, I am not sure what you call that is split the length of this hoof as well. He is not lame at all though. What can be done to help that out. Thanks for the time you give, it is wonderful to see that I am not the only person that loves an animal and will do anything and spend anything needed to correct it.
Member:
Stacie

Posted on Monday, Feb 2, 2004 - 4:27 pm:

Also, One more question, what in the world could have caused proud flesh to start growing and eating his frog/sole away in the 1st place? It seemed to come from no where. We figured that the tumor/granular tissue that was cut out of his heel bulbs 7 months ago could have come from his heel splitting and that is what caused the tissue to start growing. I keep calling it a tumor, because it looks to me like a bulb of tissue growing, not any of the pictures I have seen of proud flesh.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Feb 3, 2004 - 10:11 am:

Without seeing the foot I really can't answer your questions Stacie but anything you can do to limit contamination and stabalize the wound helps: perhaps clips on the whoes to prevent heel expansion until it heals? The proud flesh is part of the healing process, for more see Equine Diseases » Skin Diseases » The Treatment of Proud Flesh or Exuberant Granulation Tissue.
DrO
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